EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
Mr Femi Adesina, former presidential spokesperson, told Nigerians that his boss, erstwhile President, Mr Mohammedu Buhari, is nursing regrets over some outcomes of his administration but swiftly retracted and subsequently tried to put in context his submission given the torrents of public outrage – sadly an attempt likened to crossing the Atlantic Ocean with a fisherman boat. When Solomon Dalung, a founding member of the All Progressive Congress, APC, and former Minister of Sports under President Buhari, spoke more recently about the failings and regrets of the former President, handshake was above the elbows.
After eight (8) years of record-breaking national treasury pillage, unbridled corruption, policy misdirection, cabalizing the seat of power, ethnic/clannish chauvinism, political class rascality and historic misgovernance, Nigerians were not shocked that the former ruler had some regrets, but wondered how the man is not in depression over the state of the nation he handed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Once again, we suffer the agony of political party continuity in power after a lousy run because if President Tinubu had inherited this kind of economy from the opposition, the attendant volcanic eruption would make a tsunami look like child’s play. What effrontery and injurious approximation of a national calamity that destroyed the fabric of our nation and attempting to trivialize the outcomes with semantics is not acceptable. People should learn how to enjoy their (mis)fortunes quietly.
The regrets of the former president are comical because the question is, at what point did he plunge into this feat; were the unpleasant outcomes of his regime avoidable and were the policies and programs not weighed and scrutinized during conceptualization and executions? Or at the height of such infamy, the processes/concepts hailed as the best thing that would happen to the country and dissenting voices seen as unpatriotic, stupid rants of the opposition, godless machinations of the civil society groups and like his spin doctors put it, corruption was fighting back.
Yes, it is human to have regrets because it aids genuine repentance, but willful sins come with strokes of canes – Pastor Femi Adesina can relate to that and convey the same to his principal. Painfully, the entire country has been in regret since 1960 but revved up beyond bearable limits since the fourth republic (1999), and its irreconcilable extremities celebrate a rich mix of abundant mineral and human capital resources yet infirmed with leadership failings of unimaginable proportions.
Nigerians loved former President Buhari and gave him their trust, and for once in this country, a man with a messianic toga burst into the national political landscape with massive goodwill – breaking all known ethnoreligious boundaries that set him above his predecessors.
Incontrovertibly, almost all his electoral promises and bravado fell like a pack of worthless cards after eight (8) years of purposeless governance, but do not take my words for it -you can ask Pastor Femi or whoever was on that voyage: where are the refineries promised, where is the 20,000MW power by 2019, was the oil subsidy removed, was the educational sector better and what about the promised free education from primary to tertiary, and ASUU staying at home breaking strike records, what was SMEs growth, was the agricultural revolution including the investments in rice farming sustainable or a sham/scam? Where are 3,000 superhighways constructed and all manner of infrastructure development promised, what was the state of manufacturing and industrial growth, how was forex management, and of what value was the Naira redesign policy?
By 2014, the country had the largest economy in the continent but became recessed in months under Mr Buhari as the inflationary rate soared and GDP growth dipped – leaving so many unanswered questions. Was the Naira equal to the dollar, was medical tourism abated, life -expectancy raised by an additional ten years as promised, and how can anyone forget Ajeokuta Steel Company, unemployment, level of insecurity, the defeat of Boko Haram and dissipation of insurgency, one functioning airport in each of the 36 states, free maternal and child health care service, constitutional amendments, restructuring, and what happened to Nigeria Air, yet some spokesperson is playing semantics with the word, REGRETS.
It smacks reasonability that the actors of that administration are not under intense depression, given the pains the country is undergoing because the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, got the nation into Intensive Care Units (ICU) and left it in a coma, APC under Mr Buhari pulled the plugs.
From the consistent rise of Lagos State, surpassing some critical performance metrics owing to the revolution and foundational realignment by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as governor back then, and the deliverables by the present Governor, Mr Sanwo-Olu, there is no doubt a magic wand exists somewhere but raising the dead at the federal level is not a miracle for jokers – the stakes are very high. It takes the blind to argue that Lagos is not working, but it takes sincerity for those living in Lagos to say this was not the Lagos we met in 1999 without prejudice to the quantum of resources sunk, and of course, give Nigerians service and tangible benefits, you can live on exotic islands in the Bahamas and rule this country without pressure.
Will President Tinubu conduct the funeral rites of this country even when his capacity to make a difference is not in doubt because, it appears, the economic medication currently administered, seems ineffectual as things appear to be moving in the wrong direction – making a bad situation worse – after all, the preexisting conditions of this patient called Nigeria are notoriously fatal. Nigeria is on the dead slab, and it is either the interventions are not working, or Nigerians are much in a hurry for this Lazarus to come back to life. History will not forgive this president after all the disastrous lesson notes handed to his administration by the immediate, and saving Chief Ajuri Ngalale unnecessary explanations later.
Yes, this president will not escape regrets if political appointments are continuously not balanced and spread evenly – a hallmark of the former president. Mr President risks not enjoying a peaceful retirement if ethnic and religious bigotry tear this nation apart, but thank goodness, we know him better than that. There will be enough room for regrets if this economy does not rebound significantly after four years because Mr. President was touted better prepared and experienced for the job thus he is inexcusable.
So, the way to go is to take a holistic view of the calamities that befell the Buhari administration and is instructive to avoid these pitfalls to recover this economy from its negative trajectory. President Tinubu will have no business regretting if he realizes that Nigeria is not Lagos, although the latter is a fitting microcosm. The eyes of Nigerians are on the renewed hope manifesto and still wondering if this president is the messiah.
The difference between the former president and the current is that the former wanted a trophy for the shelf, but the present declared it was a lifetime ambition, EMILOKAN. However, the ambition to do what? To make Nigeria succeed like the Asian Tigers, or leave the stage with his tails between his legs.
Yes, this president is advantaged because, unlike his predecessors, he boasts of a roadmap to becoming the president, and he fought and grabbed it against so many odds, but no matter how well-intentioned, sound governance and prosperity for the people require honest insights and courage to take the big decisions no matter how unpopular even when one of the biggest problems good presidents contend with is, having devious elements and serial sycophants that surround them. Men whose bellies are their gods and for filthy lucre take the president on a merry-go-round circus, but when the chips are down, Nigerians will only ask President Tinubu questions like we are doing right now with the man from Daura, who is gradually becoming lonely in retirement.
So, for this administration to avoid hosting a regret/pity party after its exit like Pastor Adesina and Solomon Dalung are doing on behalf of their former boss, the present coordinating minister of the economy must urgently bring to the table the chief executives of frontline MDAs that impact the economy significantly and dispassionately deal with every element that impedes seamless linkages and growth and like an Okonjo-Iweala, get a hold of the economy from an elevated and advantageous view, and ruthlessly demand reforms or boot out erring laggards because Mr President has not set up a tea party that will later host him a pity party.
If the quality of persons we see on the corridor of power are trusted friends and mentees of the president but cannot deliver the goods, then the renewed hope agenda is a mission impossible already
Indeed, this president has all it takes to succeed, but he will bear the responsibility for all the outcomes, and the regrets will be his wholesale – Mr Buhari is regretting, and all eyes are on the Jagaban!